Economic Paradigms and Democracy

Economic Paradigms and Democracy in the Age of Financial Globalization

Whether or not there exists a standard definition of the term Globalization, there is a broad agreement with the fact that the process of Globalization has had and continues to have profound impact on various aspects of human life. Globalization is not a new phenomenon for it has been a long-term gradual process of change, which affects every aspect of human life and being affected by the human enterprise, since the days of Columbus, and yet at the same time it is irregularly punctuated by episodes of dramatic change. Ever since the Columbian voyage initiated the process of intermingling of the continents of Europe and the Americas, Globalization has been influencing and reshaping every part of the world in all aspects of human life – social, cultural, economic, political, biological and ecological aspects.

In the recent past, there were two intense periods where the process of globalization induced dramatic changes across the world. The first wave happened in the late nineteenth century up to the First World War, which was characterized by extensive trade networks across various continents under European Colonialism. The second wave happened in the twentieth century, starting from the 1980s to the present day, characterized as free market Capitalism led by the phenomenal development of the financial markets, and called as the financialization phase of Globalization or simply Financial Globalization.

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Challenge of Good Governance

The Challenge of Good Governance in India: Need for Innovative Approaches 

 

The need is to go for ‘million negotiations’ that would ensure that government, market and civil society work together for the poor 

 

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, in his famous Tryst with Destiny speech of 15th August 1947 succinctly put the task before people’s representatives and the services in the following words; “….. to fight and end poverty and ignorance and disease; to build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation, and to create social, economic and political institutions which will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and woman.” These works are still in progress. A deeper look at these tasks would clearly establish that these goals are entirely within the realm of governance. 

Meaning 

There is no accepted definition of governance. There is divergence of opinion about the meaning of governance between the conservatives and the liberals, between socialists and the communists.  

In recent years the word governance has become a very fashionable term and is being used in a variety of ways and that covers a large number of organizations both in public and private domains. 

For our purposes, however, we are confining governance only to public domain. We are concerned here with that form of governance which serves the citizens by safeguarding territorial integrity of the State and securing individual security, rule of law and the delivery of services ranging from education, health to livelihood and food security. 

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